Anniversary celebration recap: on Friday we saw the new Shrek movie in 3D. It was cute and funny, with an interesting storyline. While it isn't as good as the first one, it was definitely a lot better than the third installment. I'd rate them 1, 2, 4, 3 in order of ogrey goodness.

Saturday we got our workouts done so we could indulge in a decadent dinner, got our stuff packed, stopped by the booze-a-rama for a bottle of Silver Oak (yay special occasions!) and headed for the hotel. The W is very hip and trendy, and our suite was most posh. Lots of dark, cool colors and swanky decor. When we got there, they had strewn yellow rose petals in a path toward the bed and all along the bed itself. It was lovely! We have pictures but haven't uploaded them yet. They had also set out a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and Fiji water for us. How great was that?!?

We hung out in our huge room for a bit, exploring, reading about the amenities, having some chocolate strawberries, and then headed down to the lounge for a drink. Before we left, though, something funny happened. The W has these thick blackout shades that you can pull down at night, but also a thin mesh-type screen behind that; we could see out but I don't think people in the condos across the way could see in. Well, we were standing on the opposite side of the room, not raising or lowering any of the shades or pulling the mesh aside to peep out. All of a sudden, with zero interference from either of us, the mesh on a huge floor-to-ceiling window fell off its moorings! It fell down behind the couch. It was so funny, just all of a sudden without provocation: swooosh! After breaking the hotel, we went to the lounge, ordered beverages and people-watched for a while. We also saw some cool cars go by - limos, couple of Bentleys but the best was the Acura NSX. This is a rare, special and ultra-fabulous car because it was developed by one Ayrton Senna.

When it was close to time for dinner, we headed up to our room, changed and headed over to the restaurant. They put us at the best table in the place, took our drink order and then the maitre d' headed over with a complimentary tray of amuse-bouche: paté, a ramekin of pickled vegetables, chorizo bites, paper-thin slices of peppercorn beef and prosciutto. NOM. For dinner Alan had a beefsteak tomato/Stilton salad with grilled onion vinaigrette and a bone-in pork chop with mustard sauce. I had a piece of tuna tartare with avocado in soy-lime dressing and a filet with chimichurri sauce. We split side orders of onion rings and jalapeno mashed potatoes. It was beyond excellent. Alan said he doesn't think he's ever had a better pork chop and my steak was fabulous. For dessert, Alan ordered a peanut butter/chocolate parfait that came with a scoop of banana ice cream. I wasn't hungry enough to eat an entire dessert but I tried his and it was sooooo yummy. The banana ice cream was particularly delicious. Re-reading this paragraph, it sounds like we gorged ourselves on pounds and pounds of food. It wasn't that bad - the amuse-bouche were small, tasty bites and the other things were decently sized portions but not huge.

We returned to our room to relax and recover from the gastronomical bliss that was dinner. Eventually we decided to go to Drinkshop. I wanted a drink from there not so much for the drink as the experience; all the fruit juices are squeezed fresh and they hand-chip the ice for the drinks from a huge block on top of the bar. I ordered something called a Queens Park Swizzle, which was pretty good. We decided to leave after one drink, though - there was a large group having a birthday party there and those people were so loud. I mean, I know they had as much right to be there as we did but when your "woo-hoo"s and squealing is drowning out the techno, you're too freakin' loud. I'm just sayin'. So we went up to the bar to pay because the birthday party people had the poor waitress running laps between their tables and the bar. We asked the manager for our check and she started apologizing, saying they were short-staffed. I explained that it was no problem, we weren't mad or anything, we were just ready to go. To which she responded by comping our drinks! Shweet!

Next on our agenda: some chilling out in our comfy (and quite cosmopolitan) suite with some more chocolate covered strawberries. We had a great night; we both think that's the most comfortable hotel bed we've ever experienced. The next morning we woke up early enough not to have to rush around and headed back to BLT for breakfast. Eggses, yummy thyme-roasted potatoes and the most delectable tomatoes provencal I've ever tasted. Alan had pancakes which he reports were light, fluffy and delicious.

We were sad to leave but it was good to get home to the puppies and kitty. It was a wonderful, relaxing, fantastic experience. Phenomenally superb anniversary celebration this year - almost as spectacular as the husband involved.